Fence paint holder

ABSTRACT

This abstract describes a carriage which is constructed with rollers so that it can be positioned on and travel along a fence constructed with substantially horizontal board rails. The carriage is in the shape of an inverted U so that with rollers on the underside of the top and on the inside of the two walls it is guided to remain in a vertical position and can be rolled along the top edge of the top board of the fence. On the front surface of the carriage is a paint container which is removably fastened for cleaning, etc. The container is designed to hold a volume of paint and includes means to support and drain the brush, etc. Means are provided so that the paint container can be tilted in accordance with the slope of the fence so that the container will be in a horizontal position even though the fence is on a slope. Means are provided to allow the side roller spacing to accommodate the painting of thinner or thicker boards. Means are also provided to roll the carriage along a pipe rail. In this case there is a side arm fastened on the device on which a counter weight is hung, so that the rotational torque in one direction on the device due to the container is balanced by the counter weight providing an equal and opposite torque in the other direction. Thus the device stays in a vertical position and can be readily moved along the pipe rail.

United States Patent .1191

Jones, III

FENCE PAINT HOLDER Inventor: Richard Lloyd Jones, III, 1754 E.

30th St., Tulsa, Okla. 74114 Filed: May 21, 1973 Appl. N0.: 361,970

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 4/1907 Freestate 401/486/1963 Lich 105/150 7/1966 Hentei 248/215 Primary ExaminerM. HensonWood, Jr. Assistant ExaminerD. W. Keen Attorney, Agent, or Firml-Iead &Johnson [57] ABSTRACT This abstract describes a carriage which isconstructed [451 Oct. 22, 1974 with rollers so that it can be positionedon and travel along a fence constructed with substantially horizontalboard rails. The carriage is in the shape of an inverted U so that withrollers on the underside of the top and on the inside of the two wallsit is guided to remain in a vertical position and can be rolled alongthe top edge of the top board of the fence. On the front surface of thecarriage is a paint container which is removably fastened for cleaning,etc; The container is designed to hold a volume of paint and includesmeans to support and drain the brush, etc. Means are provided so thatthe paint container can be tilted in accordance with the slope of thefence so that the container will be in a horizontal position even thoughthe fence is on a slope.

Means are provided to allow the side roller spacing to accommodate thepainting of thinner or thicker boards. Means are also provided to rollthe carriage along a pipe raiL ln this case there is a side arm fastenedon the device on which a counter weight is 11 Claims, 7 Drawing FiguresI PAIENIEonmemn 3.842.745

Fig. 2

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sum zar 3 Fig. 3

FENCE PAINT HOLDER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention is in thefield of paint containers. More particularly, it is concerned with atype of paint container that is adapted to roll along a fence rail whenused for the painting of fences which have substantially horizontalboards or pipes which connect to their corresponding vertical fenceposts.

In the prior art it has been customary to stand a conventional paint canon the ground while a painter paints a wood-or pipe-rail type fence.This requires considerable stooping, bending, lost motion and loss oftime. The alternative has been to hold the conventional paint can in theopposite hand doing the painting so as to keep the source of paint closeto the area being painted. This helps to minimize wasted time andmotion, however, this entails a maximum of physical effort to the fencepainter.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is a primary object of this invention toprovide a carriage which carries 'a paint container, and can besupported on any rail, be it the top, bottom or any rail inbetween, of arail-type fence. The device is provided with rollers in such a way as topermit the carriage to be rolled along the desired rail of a fence. Aswork progresses in the painting of a fence, the carriage canbe rolled onahead, and provide the container of paint at a convenient location inregards to availabilityof paint to the actual fence area being painted.

This and other objects are realized and the limitations of the prior artare overcome in this invention by providing a U-shaped device of wood,plastic or metal sheets, which have on the inside surfaces spaced pairsof rollers. These support the device on a wooden board which might formthe top rail of a fence, for example, so that the carriage can be rolledalong with minimum effort. The front outer face of the front wallcarries a paint container, so that the painter can dip his brush intothe paint container at a location immediately adjacent to the actualfence painting area, and still have it capable of easy transport alongthe fence as work progresses.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS These and other objects of thisinvention and a better understanding of the principles and details ofthe invention will be evident from the following description taken inconjunction with the appended drawings, in which:

FIGS. 1 and 2 show the front and back views of the carriage as supportedon a horizontal board rail.

FIG. 3 shows a view from below. 1

FIG. 4 shows a front view with the rail at a slope to thehorizontal.

FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 show end views of the device as supported on a thinboard rail, a thick board rail, and a circular pipe rail.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT (base of the U) on theundersurface of which is fastened a pair of rollers 22A and 22B. Theseare adapted to ride on the top surface of any horizontal wood or piperail 12. There is a front wall, sheet or board 16 which is suspendedfrom the top plate 14, which hangs on the front side of the rail 12.There is, as shown in FIG. 2, a shorter back wall or plate 18 suspendedfrom the top plate 14. This carries two rollers 24A and 243. There aretwo rollers 26A and 26B fastened to the inside surface of the frontplate so that, as shown in FIG. 5, when this device is placed over aboard rail 12A, for example, the top rollers 22A are supported on thetop of the board, the back rollers 24A and 24B are supported against theback surface of the rail 12A and the rollers 26A and 268 on the insidesurface of the front wall press on the front surface of the rail 12A.

The purpose of the three sets of rollers is to provide for a stableconfiguration for the device, so that when a paint container 20 issupported on the outer surface of the front wall the weight of thecontainer and paint will be adequately supported by the rollers 26A and268. The paint container can be a rectangular box with a higher backwall 27 with a group of enlarged perforations 29 so that the containercan be placed in various combinations over a plurality of bolts 42 and43. The angle of the container 20 with respect to the device 10 can beshifted as shown in FIG. 4, so as to compensate Referring now to thedrawings and in particular to FIGS. 1 and 2, there are shown a frontview and a back view of the device. In FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 there are shownend views, which clearly indicate the inverted U- shaped construction.There is a top plate or board 14 forthe slope of the rail 12 forexample.

By reference to FIGS. 5 and 6 it will be seen that the rollers 24A and24B mounted, on the inside of the back wall 18 have a spacer block 32which can be positioned on the outside of the back wall as shown in FIG.5, or on the inside of the back wall as shown in FIG. 6, so as tocompensate for variouswidths of rails 12A or 123. The roller sets 24Aand 24B are held by means of long bolts and wing nuts 34, for example,so that changes in spacing can be made very quickly in the field.

As shown in FIG. 7 thisdevice can be used on a pipe rail 30 where thepipe is held between the two sets of roller wheels 28, and the weight ofthe paint in the container 20 is counterbalanced by a wooden arm, forexample, 36 which passes through openings 35 in the front and back wallsto support a counterweight 40, at a selected -distance out on the arms36. Adjustment of the spacing of the counterweight will continuouslybalance any change of weight of the paint container.

In FIG. 5 is shown a detail of an edge formed by bending the frontsurface of the paint container to provide a narrow angle betweensurfaces 21 and 23, with a series of holes 22, through which paint candrip from the brush back into the container.

FIG. 3 shows a view looking at the device from the bottom and showsanother feature of the device. This comprises a sheet metal template 44.This is a rectangular piece of sheet metal adapted to fit between thefront and back walls. It has two more or less semicircular openings 46,spaced so as to fit around the rollers 22A and 22B and the top of thefence rail so that when the rail is at an angle to the horizontal therollers 22A, 22B will not contact the rail and the device will not roll,but instead drag, and therefore not freewheel of its own weight downthe'rail. In this case the top rollers are ineffective and the devicemust be pushed along the rail. The sheet metal template is blocked inposition by the openings 46 which fit around the rollers 24A and 24B andso cannot slide out of position.

While it is not shown, it is possible to provide a means, as is wellknown in the art, on the .front face of the front wall, to support'thebrush over the paint container.

While the invention has been described with a certain degree ofparticularity it is manifest that many changes may be made in thedetails of construction and the arrangement of components. it isunderstood that the invention is not to be limited to the specificembodiments set forth herein by way of exemplifying the invention,

but theinvention is to be limited only by the scope of the attachedclaim or claims, including the full range of equivalency to which eachelement or step thereof is entitled.

What we claim is:

l. A roll-along type of paint container carriage comprising:

a. an inverted U shaped sheet frame having a top, a

back wall and a front wall;

b. at least one pair of spaced rollers mounted to the internal surfaceof each wall of said frame, all rollers having their axes perpendicularto the longitudinal axis of the frame, the frame adapted to be supportedin an inverted position by the rollers on a substantially horizontalrail;

-. a paint containerremovably supported side surface of the front wall.Y

2. The paint container carriage as in claim 1 including means to tiltthe paint container with. respect to the carriage to compensate for theslope of said rail.

on the out- 3. The paint container carriage as in claim 1 includ- 5. Thepaint container carriage as in claim 1 including arm means removablyattached to said carriage and extending horizontally perpendicular tothe back wall, and weight means movable along said arm.

6. The paint container as in claim 1 in which said at least one pair ofrollers is on the top of the inside surface.

7. The paint container as in claim 1 including two additional pairs ofrollers on the inside surfaces of said front and back wallsrespectively.

8. The paint container carriage as in claim 7 including means to changethe spacing between the surfaces of the second and third rollers on theinsides of the two walls, to accommodate to rails of differentthicknesses.

9. The paint container as in claim 1 in which said rail is an elongatedcylindrical member.

10. The paint container as in claim I in which rail is an elongatedrectangular member.

11. A roll-along type of paint container carriage comprising:

a. an inverted U shaped sheet frame having a top, a

back wall and a front wall;- b. three pairs of spaced rollers mounted tothe internal surfaces of said frame, all rollers having their axesperpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the frame, the frame adaptedto be supported in an inverted position by the rollers on asubstantially horizontal rail; the first rollers in the top carrying theweight of the frame, the second and third rollers on the inside of theba'clc and front walls respectively providing rotational control; 0. apaint container removably supported on the outside surface of the frontwall.

said

1. A roll-along type of paint container carriage comprising: a. aninverted U shaped sheet frame having a top, a back wall and a frontwall; b. at least one pair of spaced rollers mounted to the internalsurface of each wall of said frame, all rollers having their axesperpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the frame, the frame adaptedto be supported in an inverted position by the rollers on asubstantially horizontal rail; c. a paint container removably supportedon the outside surface of the front wall.
 2. The paint containercarriage as in claim 1 including means to tilt the paint container withrespect to the carriage to compensate for the slope of said rail.
 3. Thepaint container carriage as in claim 1 including means to drain thebrush into the container.
 4. The paint container carriage as in claim 1including sheet means to cover the rollers on said top so as to preventcontact between said rollers and said rail.
 5. The paint containercarriage as in claim 1 including arm means removably attached to saidcarriage and extending horizontally perpendicular to the back wall, andweight means movable along said arm.
 6. The paint container as in claim1 in which said at least one pair of rollers is on the top of the insidesurface.
 7. The paint container as in claim 1 including two additionalpairs of rollers on the inside surfaces of said front and back wallsrespectively.
 8. The paint container carriage as in claim 7 includingmeans to change the spacing between the surfaces of the second and thirdrollers on the insides of the two walls, to accommodate to rails ofdifferent thicknesses.
 9. The paint container as in claim 1 in whichsaid rail is an elongated cylindrical member.
 10. The paint container asin claim 1 in which said rail is an elongated rectangular member.
 11. Aroll-along type of paint container carriage comprising: a. an inverted Ushaped sheet frame having a top, a back wall and a front wall; b. threepairs of spaced rollers mounted to the internal surfaces of said frame,all rollers having their axes perpendicular to the longitudinal axis ofthe frame, the frame adapted to be supported in an inverted position bythe rollers on a substantially horizontal rail; the first rollers in thetop carrying the weight of the frame, the second and third rollers onthe inside of the back and front walls respectively providing rotationalcontrol; c. a paint container removably supported on the outside surfaceof the front wall.